Social Accountability
Strengthening accountability relationships from the bottom up
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
What is social accountability? How does it differ from
accountability?
Accountability… for what? by whom? to whom? how?
when? and on what basis?
•
Accountability – describes a principal-agent relationship between two actors where agent
A is accountable and has to explain and justify his or her actions to principal B, at the risk
of sanction if the explanation is found lacking
•
Accountability involves answerability and enforceability
•
Many ‘accountabilities’ - ‘upward’ and ‘downward’
•
In relation to government accountability – vertical accountability (elections); and
horizontal accountability (institutional checks and balances – supreme audit institutions,
parliaments, courts, and government procedures)
•
Accountability instruments can be ‘ex-post’ (after the fact) or ‘ex-ante’ (before the
fact) - what is ‘the fact’?
“Accountability is all about delivering on a promise.”
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
What is Social Accountability
:
• an approach towards
building accountability that
•Civic engagement
relies on civic engagement
•Demand driven
• civil society organizations
participate directly in
demanding accountability
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
•Bottom up
•Process not tool!
This is Social accountability
• Citizens working together to ensure their governments are
meeting their community’s needs and managing their
resources effectively and transparently.
• This new approach to citizens’ action actually involves
systematic analysis and intelligent use of data: is about
getting and using critical information about budget,
expenditures, corruption, performances etc. in a way that
can generate sound evidences of poor governance.
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
Why is ‘social accountability’ important for
poor people/women?
•
Poor/women/youth often have no access to vertical accountability
instruments
•
Corruption, capture, and clientelism cause for most horizontal
government accountability instruments to fail even in well
intentioned states
•
Institutional biases (language, cultural attitudes, norms) also work
against children
•
Citizens do not enjoy de jure accountability over their
governments. Service delivers are contractually accountable to
managers; and respect de facto accountability of donors
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
Why do it?
1. Better governance
2. Better (pro-poor) policies and programmes
3. Empowerment
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
What has social accountability resulted in?
Among governments:
Among citizens:
•
•
value of contributions of
interest in citizens’ roles in
citizens and CSOs and the
more accountable governance
need to involve them in
Increased capacities to engage
governance processes
Increased accountability
engagements with government
•
Coalitions and networks
•
Increased partnerships with
media
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
Increased responses to
citizen demands
•
Reform of systems and
procedures of government
strengthened
•
Increased recognition of the
Increased awareness of and
in accountability work
•
•
•
Introduction of corrective
actions
Challenges
• CS often not recognised by the state as an accountability actor
• Criticism of government as ground for harassment/violence
• Absence of basic freedoms (information, association, expression, etc.)
• A certain level of technical skills are required (elite capture?)
• Frontline providers are only partially responsible
• Confrontational nature raises the issue of conflict sensitivity
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.
Social Accountability tools
• The Community Score Card (CSC)
• Participatory Budgeting
• Independent Budget Analysis
• The Public Expenditure Tracking Survey (PETS)
• Social Audit
• Public hearings
• Citizen Report Cards (CRCs)
• Information Campaigns
• Community radio
• A Citizen's charter
Defending dignity.
Fighting poverty.